Symbol flipping decoders of non-binary low-density parity check (ldpc) codes

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are provided for decoding data. A decoder retrieves data related to a symbol and identifies a plurality of candidate values for the symbol. The decoder determines a distance between each of the plurality of candidate values and a reference value associated with the symbol to obtain a plurality of distances, and the decoder determines whether to update a value of the symbol based at least in part on the plurality of distances.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of U.S.Provisional Application No. 61/694,163, filed Aug. 28, 2012, which ishereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

The background description provided herein is for the purpose ofgenerally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of theinventors hereof, to the extent the work is described in this backgroundsection, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwisequalify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly norimpliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.

The present disclosure relates generally to data decoding, and moreparticularly to decoders for data encoded with a low density paritycheck (LDPC) encoder.

LDPC codes and decoders that are used to decode LDPC codes may be usedin numerous applications and devices. For example, data storage,satellite communications, wireless communications, wire-linecommunications, and power-line communications are applications that mayeach use LDPC codes and LDPC decoders. Devices such as digital cameraflash memory storage, satellites, mobile phones, and other mobiledevices may also each use LDPC codes and LDPC decoders.

LDPC codes may be used for correcting errors in information transmittedin a noisy communications or data storage channel. The information maybe encoded (by a LDPC encoder) prior to transmission and thensubsequently decoded (by a LDPC decoder) when received. Conventionalhard decoding LDPC techniques are typically two-state systems, in whichbits in an incoming code are assigned to one of two binary states.Improved decoding results can be achieved using soft information, suchas probability distributions. However, storing and processing softinformation can be very demanding on processor and memory resources.

Previous LDPC techniques typically determine whether to flip a bit basedon whether a given number of checks are unsatisfied. For example, valuesof one or more bits may be selected to be flipped based on whichcombination of bits is most likely to reduce the number of unsatisfiedcheck nodes.

SUMMARY

In accordance with an implementation of the disclosure, systems andmethods are provided for decoding data. A decoder retrieves data relatedto a symbol and identifies a plurality of candidate values for thesymbol. The decoder determines a distance between each of the pluralityof candidate values and a reference value associated with the symbol toobtain a plurality of distances and determines whether to update a valueof the symbol based at least in part on the plurality of distances.

The plurality of distances form a distance distribution, wherein thedistance distribution includes a number of check nodes associated withat least one distance in the plurality of distances. The determiningwhether to update a value of the symbol is further based at least inpart on a comparison between a threshold and a number of check nodesassociated with a first distance in the plurality of distances. Thethreshold may be modified at a further iteration of the decoding.

In some implementations, determining whether to update the value of thesymbol comprises identifying a plurality of thresholds, wherein eachthreshold in the plurality of thresholds corresponds to a distance inthe plurality of distances, and wherein the threshold is modified as thecorresponding distance is modified. The determining whether to updatethe value of the symbol further comprises comparing each threshold inthe plurality of thresholds to the corresponding distance in theplurality of distances. The value of the symbol is updated when a numberof check nodes associated with a distance in the plurality of distancesexceeds a threshold.

A first number of satisfied check nodes associated with the symbolcorrespond to a first distance in the plurality of distances, and asecond number of unsatisfied check nodes associated with the symbolcorrespond to a second distance in the plurality of distances. In someimplementations, each check node in the second number of unsatisfiedcheck nodes is changed to a satisfied check node if the symbol isupdated to a second value based on the reference value and the seconddistance.

In some implementations, the reference value is an original value of thesymbol or a current value of the symbol. The symbol is a non-binarysymbol, such that there are at least three candidate values in theplurality of candidate values for the symbol.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other features of the present disclosure, including itsnature and its various advantages, will be more apparent uponconsideration of the following detailed description, taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an illustrative communications systememploying LDPC decoding, in accordance with an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are graphical illustrations of communications betweenvariable nodes representing symbols of a received codeword and checknodes for decoding the received codeword, in accordance with anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a process for decoding data, in accordancewith an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a process for performing iterations of adecoding algorithm, in accordance with an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a process for determining a distancedistribution, in accordance with an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of a process for changing the updating rules inperforming an iteration of a decoding algorithm, in accordance with anembodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a computing device, for performing any ofthe processes described herein, in accordance with an embodiment of thedisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This disclosure generally relates to performing decoding at a decoder.To provide an overall understanding of the disclosure, certainillustrative embodiments will now be described, including a decoder thatdecodes a codeword by updating symbol values in multiple iterations.However, it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art thatthe systems and methods described herein may be adapted and modified asis appropriate for the application being addressed, and that the systemsand methods described herein may be employed in other suitableapplications, and that such other additions and modifications will notdepart from the scope thereof.

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative communications system 100 for LDPC decodingbased, in part, on symbol flipping, in accordance with some embodimentsof the present disclosure. A communications system 100 is used totransmit information from a transmitting user or application 102 to areceiving user or application 130. The transmitting user or application102 represents an object or entity that produces information. Forexample, the transmitting user or application 102 may correspond to asoftware program in a computer system or to a component of a wirelesscommunications transmitter in a radio system. The transmitting user orapplication 102 produces information in the form of a data stream, andthe data stream may be represented by a sequence of symbol values thathave been pre-processed by, for example, a source encoder (not shown inFIG. 1). The information produced by the transmitting user orapplication 102 may correspond to voice information, video information,financial information, or any other type of information that may berepresented in digital or analog form, and the data stream produced bytransmitting user or application 102 may be a digital data stream.

The transmitting user or application 102 may segment or otherwise dividethe data stream into blocks of a fixed length of k symbols. Inparticular, a message 104, also referred to as m, represents one ofthese blocks. In particular, the message 104 is k symbols in length,where each symbol may be binary data or non-binary data such as ternarydata, quaternary data, any other suitable type of data, or any suitablecombination thereof. An encoder 106 is used to encode the message 104 toproduce a codeword 110. In one embodiment of the present disclosure, theencoder 106 is an LDPC encoder. However, based on the disclosure andteachings provided herein, it should be clear that the encoder 106 maybe any other suitable encoder. The codeword 110, also referred to as c,has a length of n symbols, where n>k. The encoder 106 uses a generatormatrix G 108, also referred to as G for notational convenience, toproduce the codeword 110. For example, the encoder 106 may perform oneor more matrix operations to convert the message 104 into the codeword110. In an embodiment, the encoder 106 produces the codeword 110 fromthe message 104 using the generator matrix G 108 by the following matrixmultiplication

c=Gm.

The codeword 110 may be modulated or otherwise transformed by amodulator 112 into a waveform suitable for transmission and/or storageon a channel 114. For example, the waveform may correspond to an analogBinary Phase-Shift Keying (BPSK) signal, analog Phase-Shift Keying (PSK)signal, analog Frequency-Shift Keying (FSK) signal, analog QuadratureAmplitude Modulation (QAM) signal, or any other suitable analog ordigital signal.

The channel 114 refers to the physical medium through which thetransmitted waveform passes, or is stored on, before being recovered ata demodulator 116. For example, the channel 114 may be a storage channelthat represents a storage medium in a computer system environment or acommunications channel that represents the wireless propagationenvironment in a wireless communications environment. Variouscharacteristics of the channel 114 may corrupt data that is communicatedor stored thereon. For example, the channel 114 may be a non-idealmemoryless channel or a channel with memory. The output of the channel114 is demodulated and processed by the demodulator 116 to produce areceived codeword 118. The demodulator 116 may use frequency filters,multiplication and integration by periodic functions, and/or any othersuitable demodulation technique to demodulate and/or process the outputof the channel 114.

In some embodiments, channel 114 is a binary symmetric channel model. Ina binary symmetric channel, assuming that the bits are independent, asmaller number of errors per symbol are more likely to occur than alarger number of errors per symbol. For example, if the sent symbol isthree-bits long, and if an error is to occur, it is more likely that asingle bit of the three-bit symbol will be in error (and the other twobits of the three-bit symbol are received correctly) than for two bitsof the three-bit symbol to be in error. The least likely error to occuris when all three bits of the received three-bit symbol are in error. Inan example, if the sent symbol is 000, the most likely received symbolsin error are 001, 010 or 100 because in each of these received symbols,only one bit is in error. It is less likely for the received symbols tobe 110, 011 or 101, because each of these received symbols requires twobits to be in error. It is least likely for the received symbol to be111, because this received symbol requires all three bits to be inerror. A difference between the originally sent symbol and the receivedsymbol may be referred to as a distance. For example, the distance maycorrespond to the number of bits of the symbol that are received inerror.

In some embodiments, channel 114 is a Q-ary symmetric channel. In aQ-ary symmetric channel, all the incorrect received symbols are equallylikely to occur. In an example, the probabilities of a three-bit symbolthat is sent as “000” being received as 001, 010, 100, 110, 011, 101, or111 are the same. In other words, received symbols with differentnumbers of bits in error are all equally likely to occur, as long as thenumber of errors is greater than 0. This means that the received symbolswith different binary distances between the originally transmittedsymbol and the received symbol are all equally likely, as long as thatdistance is greater than 0.

In some embodiments, channel 114 is a quadrature-pulse amplitudemodulation (Q-PAM) channel.

In a Q-PAM channel, the probability of an error occurring over thechannel is dependent on a proximity between the transmitted symbol andthe received symbol. In particular, symbols that neighbor the originalsymbol (i.e., the transmitted symbol) are more likely to be receivedthan symbols that are further from the original symbol. In an example,the possible symbol values are the integers from 0 to 7, and the symbol3 is transmitted. In this case, the received symbol is most likely to be3, after which the more likely symbols are 2 or 4 rather than any of theother symbols (i.e., 0, 1, 5, 6, or 7).

The received codeword 118 contains information related to the codeword110 and may be a corrupted or otherwise altered version of the codeword110 originally output by the encoder 106. For example, the receivedcodeword 118 may contain a preliminary estimate or noisy version of thecodeword 110, a probability distribution vector of possible values ofthe codeword produced by the encoder 106, or combinations of these aswell as other values.

A detector 120 is used to process the received codeword 118 to produce adetector sample 122, which is an estimate of the original data message104. The detector 120 samples each symbol in the received codeword 118and assigns each symbol to a bin based on its value. In someembodiments, the bin is assigned based on a probability distribution.Each symbol sampled by the detector 120 is assigned to one of two ormore possible bins, or states.

A decoder 124 receives and iteratively processes the detector sample122. The detector 120 and the decoder 124 may be two separateprocessors, or a single processor may be used as both the detector 120and decoder 124. In general, the decoder 124 comprises control circuitryand/or decoding circuitry used to iteratively correct and/or detecterrors present in the detector sample 122, for example, due totransmission through the channel 114. In some embodiments, the decoder124 uses the parity check matrix H 126 and a decoding technique toproduce a decoded message 128. In general, LDPC decoding can bedescribed using a mathematical vector model Hc={right arrow over (0)},in which c is a binary string of length n and H is the parity checkmatrix H 126, which is a low-density, sparse n×m matrix, wherein, asabove, n is the number of symbols in the codeword, m is the number ofcheck nodes satisfying m≧n−k, and k is the number of symbols in themessage. The model is satisfied only when the binary string c is thecodeword c 110. The parity check matrix H 126 is not necessarily unique,and may be chosen to be computationally convenient and/or to decreasethe number of errors generated by the decoding technique of the decoder124.

The iterative decoding technique used by the decoder 124 involvesprocessing a detector sample 122 by updating symbols in the detectorsample 122 based on whether checks of the symbol are satisfied orunsatisfied and based on whether the symbol has been previously updated,flipped, or toggled. Generally, as used herein, “flipping” or “toggling”a symbol means to update a value of the symbol to a different value thanthe current value. Exemplary processing rules for flipping data bits arediscussed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/673,371, entitled“METHODOLOGY FOR IMPROVED BIT-FLIPPING DECODER IN 1-READ AND 2-READSCENARIOS” which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

After processing, each bit of the symbol in the decoded message 128should be assigned as one of two binary states. When input into themodel Hc={right arrow over (0)} as c, the decoded message 128 satisfiesthe model. Suitable processes for performing the decoding are describedin relation to FIGS. 3-6.

The decoded message 128 is delivered to the receiving user orapplication 130 after being processed by the decoder 124. The receivinguser or application 130 may correspond to the same device or entity asthe transmitting user or application 102, or the receiving user orapplication 130 may correspond to a different device or entity. Further,the receiving user or application 130 may be either co-located orphysically separated from the transmitting user or application 102. Ifthe decoder 124 corrects all errors that are induced by the channel 114and other communications effects in the communications system 100, thenthe decoded message 128 is a logical replica of the message 104.Otherwise, the decoded message 128 may differ from the message 104, andthe decoder 124 may declare an error accordingly.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are graphical illustrations of communications betweenvariable nodes 220-234 representing an example codeword and check nodes200-210 for decoding the codeword, in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

After the variable nodes 220-234 are assigned input states or valuesusing the detector 120 as described above, a check of the variable nodesis performed by the decoder 124 on a plurality of groups of variablenodes. The decoder 124 uses processing rules to determine a condition ofa group of variable nodes. An indication of the determined condition isstored in syndrome memory at a check node, such as check nodes 200-210.The parity check matrix H 126 (FIG. 1) identifies which check nodesstore indications of the determined conditions for which variable nodes.For example, for the nodes pictured in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the parity checkmatrix H 126 may be as follows:

$H = \begin{bmatrix}2 & 1 & 1 & 0 & 3 & 0 & 0 & 2 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 1 & 0 & 2 & 1 & 0 \\1 & 0 & 0 & 2 & 1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 2 & 3 & 0 & 0 & 2 & 0 & 1 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 3 & 2 & 0 & 0 & 2 \\3 & 0 & 1 & 0 & 0 & 1 & 2 & 0\end{bmatrix}$

Each row corresponds to one of the check nodes, and each columncorresponds to one of the variable nodes. In a binary code, the elementsof the parity check matrix are 0 or 1, but for a non-binary LDPC code,the elements of the parity check matrix are non-binary. Each row of theparity check matrix forms the coefficients of a parity check equation,which is computed in the non-binary domain.

The decoder 124 references the parity check matrix H 126 to identifywhich variable nodes should be checked by a particular check node. Forexample, for the check node 206, the decoder 124 determines that checknode 206 stores the result of a check of variable nodes 222, 224, 230,and 234 (i.e., the second, third, sixth, and eighth variable nodes).Then, the decoder 124 retrieves the values stored in these variablenodes. The values in the fourth row of the above parity check matrix Hare the coefficients of a parity check equation, which are eachmultiplied by the corresponding values of the variable nodes. Forillustration, the arrows in FIG. 2A indicate that the retrieved valuesflow from the variable nodes 222, 224, 230, and 234 to the check node206, and the check node 206 may be considered to “check” the variablenodes 222, 224, 230, and 234. In reality, the variable node values areretrieved by the decoder 124, which processes the values on behalf ofthe check node 206 according to the processing rules.

From the values received from the variable nodes 222, 224, 230, and 234,the decoder 124 determines whether a given condition for the check node206 is satisfied or is unsatisfied. An indication of whether the checknode 206 is satisfied or unsatisfied (i.e., the “syndrome value” of thecheck node) is stored in syndrome memory, which stores syndrome valuesor indications of the check nodes.

After the indications or syndrome values for the check nodes 200-210have been stored in the syndrome memory, the values of the variablenodes 220-234 may be updated based on the values of the check nodes. Theparity check matrix H 126 is again used by the decoder 124 to determinewhich check nodes should be accessed for a particular variable node. Asillustrated in FIG. 2B, for updating the variable node 224, the paritycheck matrix H 126 given above indicates that check nodes 200, 206, and210 (i.e., the first, fourth, and sixth variable nodes) should bereferenced. Based on the indications of the referenced check nodes, thestate of the variable node 224 may be updated. In some embodiments ofthe present disclosure, the state of the variable node 224 may also bedetermined based, in part, on whether the variable node 224 hadpreviously been updated, toggled, or flipped, as described in relationwith respect to FIGS. 3-6.

FIG. 3 is a high level flow chart of a process 300 for decoding data, inaccordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The decoder 124may execute process 300 by retrieving data related to a symbol (302) andidentifying a plurality of candidate values for the symbol (304).Process 300 further includes determining a distance between each of theplurality of candidate values and a reference value associated with thesymbol to obtain a plurality of distances (306) and determining whetherto update a value of the symbol based, at least in part, on theplurality of distances (308).

At 302, the decoder 124 retrieves data related to a symbol. The dataretrieved at 302 may correspond to a value of the symbol itself,previous values of this symbol used in previous iterations of thedecoding method, other state variables related to the symbol, or anysuitable combination thereof. The data retrieved at 302 may also includedata related to a plurality of check nodes that are connected to thesymbol. The data may further include an indication of whether the checknodes are satisfied or unsatisfied, as described in relation to FIG. 1.For example, the data retrieved at 302 may include a parity check matrix126 and for a given variable node (as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B), thedecoder 124 may use the parity check matrix H 126 to determine whichcheck nodes are associated with the given symbol. From the parity checkmatrix H and the value of the symbol, the decoder 124 retrieves a valueassociated with each check node and can identify the number of checknodes that are satisfied and the number of check nodes that areunsatisfied. The syndrome value associated with each check node may beused to determine whether a check node is satisfied or unsatisfied. Forexample, the syndrome value may correspond to a sum of products (of arow of the parity check matrix H and symbol values of a set of variablenodes). If the syndrome value is equal to zero, the check node issatisfied. Otherwise, if the syndrome value is not zero, the check nodeis unsatisfied.

At 304, the decoder 124 identifies a plurality of candidate values forthe symbol. The candidate values correspond to values to which thedecoder 124 can update the symbol in the current iteration, and maycorrespond to all possible combinations of values that the set ofvariable nodes in the codeword may have. In some embodiments, the set ofcandidate values includes only a subset of the possible combinations ofvalues.

At 306, the decoder 124 determines a distance between each of theplurality of candidate values and a reference value associated with thesymbol to obtain a plurality of distances. A distance between acandidate value and a reference value is a measure of proximity betweenthe two values.

Depending on the rules of the decoding, the reference value may havedifferent values. In particular, in some embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the reference value is fixed to the original value of thesymbol, which corresponds to a received portion of a code word 118 thatis detected by the detector 120. In other embodiments, the referencevalue corresponds to a current value of the symbol, which corresponds tothe value of the symbol after various iterations of the decodingalgorithm have been performed. In other embodiments, the reference valueis an intermediate value of the symbol, which corresponds to the valueof the symbol after one or more iterations of the decoding algorithmhave been performed, but is not necessarily the current value of thesymbol. In general, the reference value may be the original value, theintermediate value, the current value, or any other suitable value ofthe symbol.

Regardless of how the reference value of the symbol is defined, thedistance corresponds to a distance between a candidate value and thereference value. In an example, the reference value and the candidatevalue are each represented by four bits. In this case, the distancecorresponds to the number of bits (out of the four total bits) that aredifferent between the reference value and the candidate value. This isgenerally referred to as the Hamming distance, which may be used whenthe channel 114 is a binary channel. In another example, the channel 114may be a Q-ary symmetric channel, in which the distance between onesymbol (000, for example) and all other possible symbols is the same. Inanother example, the channel 114 may be a Q-PAM channel, in which thedistance between one symbol value and another symbol value is defined asthe difference between the values. In general, a distance as determinedat 306 can be any measure of proximity between two values for a symbol.

A distance distribution may be formed based on the plurality ofdistances formed at 306. The distance distribution is described in moredetail in relation to FIGS. 4 and 5, but in general, the distancedistribution corresponds to a number of check nodes that would besatisfied if the symbol value is updated to a candidate value that has aparticular distance from the reference value.

At 308, the decoder 124 determines whether to update a value of thesymbol based, at least in part, on the plurality of distances. As isdescribed in relation to FIGS. 4 and 5, the decoder 124 may use thedistance distribution to determine whether to update the value of thesymbol. As an example, the decoder 124 may compare the distancedistribution with a set of threshold values, and a candidate value maybe selected based on the comparison. For example, if a number of checknodes that would be satisfied exceeds a corresponding threshold value,the decoder 124 may update the symbol value to the correspondingcandidate value. The set of threshold values may be different fordifferent candidate values (i.e., different distances in thedistribution), and the comparison may be based on the number of checknodes, a percentage of the check nodes, the total number of check nodes,or a suitable combination thereof. The high level method 300 isdescribed in more detail in relation to FIGS. 4-6.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a process 400 for performing iterations of adecoding algorithm, in accordance with an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. The decoder 124 may execute process 400 by reading values ofreceived data (402), initializing state memory (404), storing receivedvalues in a hard decision memory (408), computing syndromes and storingthem in a syndrome memory (410), and initializing a symbol countervariable k to one (406). Process 400 further includes identifying a setof candidate values for a symbol k (412), determining a distancedistribution (414), and determining whether to update a current valuefor the symbol k (416). If so, the symbol k is updated (418), the statememory is optionally updated (420), and the decoder 124 determineswhether k is equal to the length of the current codeword. If not, thenthe value of k is incremented (422), and process 400 returns to 412 toidentify candidate values for the new symbol k. When all symbols in thecodeword have been considered, the decoder 124 determines whether thedecoding has converged (426). If convergence is reached, the decoder 124succeeded in decoding the data (432). Otherwise, the symbol countervariable k is re-initialized to one (428), the updating rules areoptionally changed (430), and process 400 returns to 412 to identify thecandidate values for symbol k.

At 402, the detector 120 reads the values of the received codeword 118to generate a detector sample 122. At 404, the decoder initializes astate memory, which stores data that indicates or that can be used todetermine whether variable nodes have been previously updated. At 408,the decoder initializes a hard decision (HD) memory by storing theoriginal values or signals of the detector sample 122 in variable nodesin the HD memory. At 410, the decoder 124 computes syndromes based onthe data stored in the HD memory as described in relation to FIG. 2A,and the decoder 124 stores the computed syndromes in check nodes in asyndrome memory. At 406, the decoder 124 initializes the variable nodeor symbol counter k=1; in the decoding process, the decoder 124 iteratesthrough each of the variable nodes in the detector sample 122, whereeach variable node corresponds to a symbol of the codeword beingdecoded. The decoder reads the syndromes stored in the check nodes forsymbol k of the code word as described in relation to FIG. 2B. Thedecoder 124 may process the syndromes to identify a number of satisfiedchecks, a number of unsatisfied checks, or both, as described inrelation to FIG. 3.

At 412, the decoder 124 identifies candidate values for symbol k. Theset of candidate values corresponds to a set of values to which thedecoder 124 may update the value of the symbol k in the currentiteration. The set of candidate values may be referred to as aconstellation. In particular, the decoder 124 reads the syndromes storedin the check nodes for symbol k of the codeword, as described inrelation to FIG. 2B. The decoder 124 may process the syndromes toidentify a number of satisfied checks, a number of unsatisfied checks,or both, as described in relation to 304 of FIG. 3. The candidate valuescorrespond to a set of values to which the decoder 124 may update thevalue of the symbol k in the current iteration. Whether the decoder 124determines to update the symbol k is dependent on the set of candidatevalues and a number of checks associated with each candidate value. Inan example, one candidate value is the current value of the symbol. Inanother example, one candidate value is the original value of the symbolas detected by the detector 120. The other candidate values correspondto other values of the symbol to which the symbol may be updated, andsome the candidate values may correspond to previous values of thesymbol (considered in previous iterations of the decoding), while someof the candidate values may correspond to new values of the symbol (notpreviously considered in previous iterations of the decoding).

At 414, the decoder 124 determines a distance distribution associatedwith the symbol k. The decoder 124 may execute the process 500 shown inFIG. 5 to determine the distance distribution. The distance distributioncorresponds to a number (or a percentage) of check nodes that areassociated with each candidate value identified at 412, as a function ofdistance between the reference value of the symbol and the candidatevalue. For example, each candidate value has a corresponding distancevalue, which is indicative of a distance between the candidate value anda reference value. The reference value may be the original symbol asreceived, the current value of the symbol after a number of previousiterations that may have updated the symbol value, or an intermediatevalue. The number of check nodes in the distance distributioncorresponds to a number of check nodes that would be satisfied if thevalue for the symbol k is updated to the corresponding candidate value.

In an example, if symbol node k is connected to seven check nodes, andif there are four candidate values, the distance distribution maycorrespond to N=[N₀ N₁ N₂ N₃]=[2 4 0 1], where the distance increasesfrom left to right. The first value N₀ in the distance distributioncorresponds to a number of check nodes (two out of seven) that aresatisfied, indicating a distance of zero, or d₀=0. The check nodes thatindicate a distance of zero means that the check nodes are satisfied forthe reference value of the symbol, because the reference value is thesame as the candidate value when the distance is zero. When thereference value is the original value of the symbol, this means that twoout of the seven check nodes were originally satisfied with the originalvalue as received, and if the symbol were updated back to its originalvalue, the two check nodes would be satisfied. When the reference valueis the current value of the symbol, this means that two out of the sevencheck nodes are currently satisfied with the current value of thesymbol.

In the example distribution [2 4 0 1], five out of the seven check nodesare unsatisfied. In particular, four out of the five unsatisfied checknodes would be satisfied if the symbol is updated to a candidate valuewith distance d₁ from the reference value, zero of the unsatisfied checknodes would be satisfied if the symbol is updated to a candidate valuewith distance d₂ from the reference value, and one of the unsatisfiedcheck nodes would be satisfied if the symbol is updated to a candidatevalue with distance d₃ from the reference value.

In a two-bit binary example, the candidate values are 00, 01, 10, and11. The distance may be measured in terms of a number of different bits,or the Hamming distance, which may be used in the case of a binarychannel as described in relation to FIG. 1. In this case, d₀=0, d₁=1,d₂=1, and d₃=2. Thus, it is possible to have two candidate values thathave the same distance, but each of the candidate values is stillassigned its own value in the distance distribution. In other words,even though d₁ is equal to d₂ in the example, the check nodes that wouldbe satisfied for d₁ do not necessarily correspond to the same checknodes that would be satisfied for d₂. Thus, d₁ and d₂ are kept asseparate values in the distance distribution even though the Hammingdistance is the same. Forming a distance distribution such as theexample shown herein is useful for determining whether to update thesymbol k as well as determining which value the decoder 124 shouldupdate the symbol k. In some embodiments, the distance distribution isnot represented by the numbers of check nodes, but rather a percentageof check nodes that would be satisfied for each candidate value. Forexample, rather than representing the distance distribution as [2 4 01], as in the above example, the distance distribution may berepresented by [29% 57% 0% 14%]. A process for determining the distancedistribution is described in more detail in relation to FIG. 500.

At 416, the decoder 124 determines whether to update the value for thesymbol k. In particular, the decoder 124 considers the distancedistribution formed at 414 and compares the values N_(i) to a set ofthreshold values. Generally, it is desirable for it to be moredifficult, or less likely, to update the symbol k to a value that isvery far from the current value or from the originally received value.Thus, the decoder 124 will not update the symbol value to a candidatevalue that has a large distance from the reference value, unless a largenumber of the check nodes would be satisfied with the candidate value.For example, the decoder 124 may not update the symbol to the fourthcandidate value (corresponding to the fourth and largest distance) for adistance distribution of [2 4 0 1], but a distance distribution of [0 00 7] may warrant an update to the fourth candidate value. Furthermore,the decoder 124 is more likely to let the symbol value remain unchanged,or to allow the symbol value to return to the original value, even ifthe number of currently satisfied check nodes N₀ is not large. Forexample, the decoder 124 may select to allow the symbol value to remainunchanged or return to the original value for a distance distribution of[2 4 0 1], even though N₀=2 is not the largest value in the distribution(N₁=4 is the largest value).

To determine whether to update the value for the symbol k, the decoder124 compares the values N_(i) in the distance distribution to a set ofthreshold values. If the value N_(i) exceeds a corresponding thresholdvalue, the symbol may be updated to the corresponding candidate value.To ensure that updating to a candidate value that is far from thereference value is harder than updating to a candidate value that isnearer to the reference value, the thresholds may have different valuesfor different distances. For example, the threshold value may increaseas the distance increases, such that the decoder 124 will only updatethe symbol value to a value that is far from the reference value when avery large number of the check nodes would be satisfied with the farvalue. The threshold values may be denoted T_(ij), where T_(ij)increases as i (and the distance) increases, or equivalently,T_(0j)<T_(1j)<T_(2j)< . . . <T_(Ij). In this way, making the update to acandidate value with distance D is more likely than an update to acandidate value with distance that is larger than D. In someembodiments, T_(ij) changes as j (the iteration number) increases. Thisprocess is described in more detail in relation to FIG. 500.

If the decoder 124 determines not to update the symbol k in the currentiteration, process 400 proceeds to 422 to increment the value of thesymbol counter k and returns to 412 to identify candidate values for thenext symbol k.

Otherwise, if the decoder 124 determines to update the symbol k in thecurrent iteration, the decoder 124 updates the symbol k at 418. In someembodiments, the decoder 124 selects the most likely candidate value.The most likely candidate value may correspond to the candidate valuewith the largest value for N_(i), or the candidate value with thelargest number of check nodes that would be satisfied if the symbol wasupdated to that candidate value. However, this approach of selecting themost likely candidate value may not be desirable for at least tworeasons.

First, it may be undesirable to update the symbol to a candidate valueunless the check nodes are decisively indicating that such an updateshould occur. For example, for a two-bit symbol with reference value(original value, current value, or intermediate value, for example) 00,the distance distribution includes four values for N_(i), where N₀corresponds to 00, N₁ corresponds to 01, N₂ corresponds to 10, and N₃corresponds to 11. In an example, the distance distribution may includevalues of N_(i): [0 2 1 1]. For four unsatisfied check nodes and zerosatisfied check nodes, it may be desirable to leave the symbolunchanged, rather than to simply select the second candidate value sothat the two check nodes are satisfied. In particular, in the example of[0 2 1 1], the four unsatisfied check nodes are not decisively pointingto a particular candidate value. Instead, the four unsatisfied checknodes are distributed across three candidate values.

Second, updates to the symbol that would require larger distances shouldbe made less frequently than symbol updates that require shorterdistances. For example, a distance distribution of [0 2 0 3] mayindicate that an update to the fourth candidate value (with the largestdistance) would satisfy three currently unsatisfied check nodes.However, it may be undesirable to update the symbol to the fourthcandidate value unless the check nodes provide a decisive indicationthat such an update should be made. An example of a decisive indicationis a distance distribution of [0 0 0 5].

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the value to which thedecoder 124 updates the symbol k is a value is selected based on acomparison between the values in the distance distribution and the setof threshold values as described above. In an example, the selectedcandidate value may be the first value N_(i) in the distancedistribution that exceeds the corresponding threshold. In particular,each value N_(i) may be compared to a respective threshold in each of anumber of iterations, where the number of iterations corresponds to thenumber of values in the distance distribution. The selected value may bethe first value that is considered in the iterations that exceeds thecorresponding threshold. In another example, multiple candidate valuesmay have corresponding values N_(i) in the distance distribution thatexceed their corresponding thresholds. In this case, the decoder 124 mayselect the candidate value with the larger value of N_(i), or thedecoder 124 may select the candidate value with the smaller distance.Rules for how to resolve situations like these (i.e., when multiplevalues N_(i) in the distance distribution exceed their correspondingthresholds) may be selected at 430.

In some embodiments, if the reference value is the original symbolvalue, the decoder 124 may determine to update the value of the symbolto the original value if the number of unsatisfied checks exceeds athreshold and if some criterion on the history of the decoder is met. Asan example, if the current symbol value is not the same as theoriginally received symbol value, the symbol may be updated back to theoriginal value. In particular, it may be desirable to easily allow thesymbol to return to original value (by using a small threshold value,for example). For example, with a distance distribution of [2 3 0 0],the decoder 124 may select the candidate value that has distance zerofrom the reference symbol. In this case, the decoder 124 determines toreturn the value of the symbol to its original value, even though theselected candidate value is not the most likely symbol. In an example,the original value of the symbol is selected if the number of checknodes that indicate they would be satisfied with the original value isin a certain percentage range (>p %). In other words, when the referencevalue is the original value, this means identifying when the first entryin the distance distribution is greater than p % of the total number ofcheck nodes connected to the current variable node.

At 418, the decoder 124 also updates the syndrome memory to reflect thevalue of the updated symbol or variable node. In particular, thesyndrome for of each check node that is connected to the variable nodefor symbol k is recomputed, and the values of those check nodes areupdated. In some embodiments, e.g., if the state memory stores anindication of whether a symbol has been updated, the state memory forsymbol k is updated at 420.

At 424, the decoder 124 determines whether k equals the codeword length,i.e., that the process of 412 through 422 has been performed on eachvariable node in the detector sample 122 and the end of the detectorsample 122 has been reached. If the end of the detector sample 122 hasnot been reached, k is incremented at 422, and the process of 412through 422 is performed on the following variable node (i.e., thefollowing symbol k) in the detector sample.

Once the end of the detector sample 122 has been reached, at 426, thisindicates the end of an iteration of the decoding process. At thispoint, the decoder 124 determines whether the decoding process hasconverged. In some embodiments, this means that the conditions of all ofthe check nodes are satisfied. In other embodiments, where outer errorcorrection codes may be present, conditions for convergence are relaxed,and a minimum amount of error (e.g., a minimum amount of erased variablenodes or a minimum amount of unsatisfied check nodes) is permitted. Ifthe decoder 124 has converged, at 432, it is determined that the decoder124 succeeded. The decoder 124 then outputs the decoded message 128 tothe receiving user or application 130. If the decoder 124 did notconverge, at 428, k is reset to 1, and in some embodiments, at 430, theupdating rules are changed for the following iteration through thedetector sample 122. Various updating rules and the changing of theupdating rules are described further in relation to FIG. 6.

In some embodiments, if the decoder 124 did not converge, beforeresetting k at 428 and iterating through the detector sample 122 again,the decoder 124 determines whether an iteration number j is less than amaximum number of iterations j_(max). If the iteration number j is lessthan the maximum number of iterations j_(max), the process continues to428 and the variable nodes are processed again. If the iteration numberj is equal to the maximum number of iterations j_(max), the methodterminates. After terminating, the decoder 124 may output the result ofthe decoding to the receiving user or application 130. Additionally oralternatively, the decoder 124 or the receiving user or application 130can request that the transmitting user or application 102 retransmit thecodeword 110. The decision of whether to accept the message or requestthe message be resent may be based on the degree to which the decoder124 determines that the decoded message 128 is incorrect.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a process 500 for determining a distancedistribution, in accordance with an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. The decoder 124 may execute process 500 as a part of thedetermining the distance distribution (414 of process 400). Process 500includes identifying a current value of the symbol (502), identifyingcheck nodes associated with the current value of the symbol (504), anddetermining a number of satisfied check nodes (506). A candidateiteration parameter i is initialized to one (508), a distance D_(i) iscomputed between a reference symbol value and the i^(th) candidate value(510), and the decoder 124 determines a number N_(i) of check nodes thatwould be satisfied if the symbol was updated to the i^(th) candidatevalue (512). If the number N_(i) exceeds a threshold value (514), thesymbol is updated to the i^(th) candidate value (522). Otherwise, if thecandidate iteration parameter i is not equal to the number of candidatevalues I (516), the candidate iteration parameter i is incremented(518), and process 500 returns to 510 to compute the distance D_(i).Otherwise, if all candidate values have been considered, and none oftheir corresponding numbers of check nodes N_(i) exceeds a threshold,the symbol value is not updated (520).

At 502, the decoder 124 identifies a current value of the symbol. If thesymbol was recently received, the current value of the symbol maycorrespond to the original value of the symbol as received. Otherwise,the current value of the symbol may correspond to an updated value thatwas used in a previous iteration of the decoding.

At 504, the decoder 124 identifies check nodes that are associated withthe current value of the symbol. The decoder 124 reads the syndromesstored in the check nodes for symbol k of the codeword, as described inrelation to FIG. 2B.

At 506, the decoder 124 determines a number of satisfied check nodes.The number of satisfied check nodes is the number of check nodes thatare connected to the variable node of the current symbol that aresatisfied with the current value. In particular, a satisfied check nodeis a check node for which the sum of the product between thecorresponding row in the parity check matrix and the current symbolvalues of the connected variable nodes is zero. If the sum of thisproduct is not zero, this means that the check node is unsatisfied.Thus, the number of satisfied check nodes may be determined bymultiplying the parity matrix H 126 by a vector with elementscorresponding to the current set of symbol values of the variable nodesand identifying the check nodes that have corresponding product elementsthat are equal to zero.

At 508, a candidate iteration parameter i is initialized to one. Theiteration parameter i is a value that indicates which candidate value iscurrently under consideration. Thus, the iteration parameter i starts atone and may be incremented until each candidate value is considered.

At 510, the decoder 124 computes a distance D_(i) between a referencesymbol value and the i^(th) candidate value. As described above, thereference symbol value may be the original value of the symbol, acurrent value of the symbol, a previous value of the symbol, or anyother suitable value. In some embodiments, the distance D_(i)corresponds to a Hamming distance between the reference symbol value andthe candidate value. Using the Hamming distance for the distance D_(i)may be useful if the channel 114 is a binary channel, as described inrelation to FIG. 1.

In general, the distance D_(i) is a metric of a relative proximityand/or likelihood between two symbols. In some embodiments, the channel114 is a Q-ary symmetric channel, as described in relation to FIG. 1. Inthis case, all the possible updated values (i.e., the candidate values)are equally likely, while the current value of the symbol may beassociated with a different likelihood. For example, if the transmittedsymbol is three bits long and has value 000, then the seven otherpossible candidate values (i.e., 001, 010, 011, 100, 101, 110, and 111)are each equally likely. In this case, if the reference value is 000,then D₀ is zero because the reference value is the same as the candidatevalue 000. Furthermore, the other seven distances (D₁, D₂, D₃, D₄, D₅,D₆, and D₇) are equal because their corresponding candidate values areall equally likely to occur.

In some embodiments, the channel 114 is a Q-PAM channel as described inrelation to FIG. 1. In this case, the neighboring symbols are morelikely than symbols that are further away. For example, if thetransmitted symbol is 3, and if the candidate values take on integervalues between from 0 to 7, the received symbol is more likely to be 2or 4, compared to the values 0, 1, 5, 6, and 7. Thus, the distancebetween the reference value and a candidate value may be defined as thedistance in the Q-PAM channel constellation.

Described herein are several examples of how to compute a distancebetween a reference symbol value and a candidate value. However, one ofordinary skill in the art will understand that in general, a distancemetric between two values as described herein may be computed in anyway.

At 512, the decoder 124 determines a number N_(i) of check nodes thatwould be satisfied if the symbol is updated to the i^(th) candidatevalue. At 514, the decoder 124 compares the number N_(i) to a thresholdvalue. The threshold may be determined based on the distance between thereference symbol value and the current candidate value underconsideration. The threshold may also be determined based on how manyiterations have already occurred in the decoding process.

As an example, a set of values T_(ij) may be updated for each iterationj. In particular, T_(ij) may increase as the candidate value i increases(and thus as the distance from the reference value increases).Furthermore, the iterations may be divided into multiple tiers. Forexample, if j_(max) is a maximal number of iterations that will beperformed in the decoding process, the set of j_(max) iterations may bedivided into different tiers, such as a first tier for iterations j=1 toj_(max)/2 and a second tier for j=j_(max)/2+1 to j_(max). In an example,T_(ij) may be smaller or larger for the first tier (i.e., earlieriterations) than in the second tier (i.e., later iterations). A smallervalue for T_(ij) implies a looser condition is required because N_(i)has to exceed T_(ij) in order to update the symbol value to the i^(th)candidate value. In the example given, there are only two tiers ofiterations. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will understandthat the systems and methods described herein can be used for any numberof tiers of iterations, without departing from the scope of thedisclosure.

If N_(i) exceeds the threshold, process 500 proceeds to 522 to updatethe symbol value to the i^(th) candidate value. Otherwise, process 500proceeds to 516 to determine whether the iteration parameter i is equalto the total number of candidate values I. If not, the iterationparameter i is incremented at 518 and process 500 returns to 510 tocompute the distance for the next candidate value. Otherwise, if allcandidate values have been considered (i.e., i=I), and if none of thecandidate values have values of N_(i) that exceed the correspondingthreshold, then process 500 proceeds to 520 and does not update thecurrent symbol value.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of a process 600 for changing the updating rulesin performing an iteration of a decoding algorithm, in accordance withan embodiment of the present disclosure. The decoder 124 may executeprocess 600 as a part of the optional changing the updating rules (430of process 400). Process 600 includes selecting a reference value forthe symbol (602), selecting whether to consider a number of check nodesor a percentage of check nodes in the distance distribution (604), andselecting a set of threshold values for the different distances, wherethe threshold value increases for increasing distance (606).

At 602, a type of reference value for the symbol is selected. The typeof reference value may be the original value of the symbol as received,the current value of the symbol (as used or updated in the previousiteration), or an intermediate value. In general, the type of referencevalue for the symbol may remain fixed across multiple iterations of thedecoding, but in some embodiments, the type of reference value may beupdated for different iterations.

At 604, the decoder 124 selects whether to consider a number of checknodes, a percentage of check nodes in the distance distribution, or acombination of both. Furthermore, the decoder 124 may also selectwhether to consider a total number of unsatisfied check nodes. Dependingon the selection at 604, the set of threshold values that are selectedat 606 may be different.

At 606, the decoder 124 selects a set of threshold values for differentdistances, where the threshold value increases for increasing distance.

For example, as described above, T_(ij) increases for candidate valueswith increasing distance i. Furthermore, T_(ij) may increase or decreasefor increasing tiers of iterations j. Depending on what was selected at604, the units of T_(ij) may be in number of check nodes, or inpercentage of check nodes. If the decoder 124 determines to use bothnumbers of check nodes and percentages of check nodes, different valuesfor T_(ij) may be used (T_number_(ij) and T_percentage_(ij), forexample).

In some embodiments, the values for the thresholds T_(ij) is dependenton the degree of a variable node and the number of unsatisfied checknodes. The degree of a variable node is a total number of check nodes towhich the variable node is connected. In an example, a variable nodewith degree seven may use different thresholds depending on how many ofthe check nodes are unsatisfied.

In general, process 600 may include updating any other process rulesassociated with performing an iteration of decoding. For example, thedecoder 124 may update the symbol based on a history or a prior state ofthe decoder 124. For example, a distance may be defined between acurrent value of the symbol and a previous value of the symbol (in someprior decoder stage or iteration). The distance distribution may begenerated on the differently defined distances, and the candidate valuesmay be separated into different categories based on the distances D_(i).Depending on whether a candidate value falls into a particular category,the symbol value may or may not get updated to that candidate value. Thethresholds may be different for different categories.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram 700 of a computing device, such as any of thecomponents of the system of FIG. 1, for performing any of the processesdescribed herein, in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure.Each of the components of these systems may be implemented on one ormore computing devices 700. In certain aspects, a plurality of thecomponents of these systems may be included within one computing device700. In certain embodiments, a component and a storage device 711 may beimplemented across several computing devices 700.

The computing device 700 comprises at least one communications interfaceunit 708, an input/output controller 710, system memory 703, and one ormore data storage devices 711. The system memory 703 includes at leastone random access memory (RAM 702) and at least one read-only memory(ROM 704). All of these elements are in communication with a centralprocessing unit (CPU 706) to facilitate the operation of the computingdevice 700. The computing device 700 may be configured in many differentways. For example, the computing device 700 may be a conventionalstandalone computer or alternatively, the functions of computing device700 may be distributed across multiple computer systems andarchitectures. In FIG. 7, the computing device 700 is linked, vianetwork 718 or local network, to other servers or systems.

The computing device 700 may be configured in a distributedarchitecture, wherein databases and processors are housed in separateunits or locations. Some units perform primary processing functions andcontain at a minimum a general controller or a processor and a systemmemory 703. In distributed architecture embodiments, each of these unitsmay be attached via the communications interface unit 708 to acommunications hub or port (not shown) that serves as a primarycommunication link with other servers, client or user computers andother related devices. The communications hub or port may have minimalprocessing capability itself, serving primarily as a communicationsrouter. A variety of communications protocols may be part of the system,including, but not limited to: Ethernet, SAP, SAS™, ATP, BLUETOOTH™, GSMand TCP/IP.

The CPU 706 comprises a processor, such as one or more conventionalmicroprocessors and one or more supplementary co-processors such as mathco-processors for offloading workload from the CPU 706. The CPU 706 isin communication with the communications interface unit 708 and theinput/output controller 710, through which the CPU 706 communicates withother devices such as other servers, user terminals, or devices. Thecommunications interface unit 708 and the input/output controller 710may include multiple communication channels for simultaneouscommunication with, for example, other processors, servers or clientterminals.

The CPU 706 is also in communication with the data storage device 711.The data storage device 711 may comprise an appropriate combination ofmagnetic, optical or semiconductor memory, and may include, for example,RAM 702, ROM 704, flash drive, an optical disc such as a compact disc ora hard disk or drive. The CPU 706 and the data storage device 711 eachmay be, for example, located entirely within a single computer or othercomputing device; or connected to each other by a communication medium,such as a USB port, serial port cable, a coaxial cable, an Ethernetcable, a telephone line, a radio frequency transceiver or other similarwireless or wired medium or combination of the foregoing. For example,the CPU 706 may be connected to the data storage device 711 via thecommunications interface unit 708. The CPU 706 may be configured toperform one or more particular processing functions.

The data storage device 711 may store, for example, (i) an operatingsystem 712 for the computing device 700; (ii) one or more applications714 (e.g., computer program code or a computer program product) adaptedto direct the CPU 706 in accordance with the systems and methodsdescribed here, and particularly in accordance with the processesdescribed in detail with regard to the CPU 706; or (iii) database(s) 716adapted to store information that may be utilized to store informationrequired by the program.

The operating system 712 and applications 714 may be stored, forexample, in a compressed, an uncompiled and an encrypted format, and mayinclude computer program code. The instructions of the program may beread into a main memory of the processor from a computer-readable mediumother than the data storage device 711, such as from the ROM 704 or fromthe RAM 702. While execution of sequences of instructions in the programcauses the CPU 706 to perform the process steps described herein,hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of, or in combination with,software instructions for embodiment of the processes of the presentdisclosure. Thus, the systems and methods described are not limited toany specific combination of hardware and software.

Suitable computer program code may be provided for performing one ormore functions in relation to decoding a codeword as described herein.The program also may include program elements such as an operatingsystem 712, a database management system and “device drivers” that allowthe processor to interface with computer peripheral devices (e.g., avideo display, a keyboard, a computer mouse, etc.) via the input/outputcontroller 710.

The term “computer-readable medium” as used herein refers to anynon-transitory medium that provides or participates in providinginstructions to the processor of the computing device 700 (or any otherprocessor of a device described herein) for execution. Such a medium maytake many forms, including, but not limited to, non-volatile media andvolatile media. Non-volatile media include, for example, optical,magnetic, or opto-magnetic disks, or integrated circuit memory, such asflash memory. Volatile media include dynamic random access memory(DRAM), which typically constitutes the main memory. Common forms ofcomputer-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexibledisk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM,DVD, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any otherphysical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM orEEPROM (electronically erasable programmable read-only memory), aFLASH-EEPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, or any othernon-transitory medium from which a computer can read.

Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carrying oneor more sequences of one or more instructions to the CPU 706 (or anyother processor of a device described herein) for execution. Forexample, the instructions may initially be borne on a magnetic disk of aremote computer (not shown). The remote computer can load theinstructions into its dynamic memory and send the instructions over anEthernet connection, cable line, or even telephone line using a modem. Acommunications device local to a computing device 700 (e.g., a server)can receive the data on the respective communications line and place thedata on a system bus for the processor. The system bus carries the datato main memory, from which the processor retrieves and executes theinstructions. The instructions received by main memory may optionally bestored in memory either before or after execution by the processor. Inaddition, instructions may be received via a communication port aselectrical, electromagnetic or optical signals, which are exemplaryforms of wireless communications or data streams that carry varioustypes of information.

While various embodiments of the present disclosure have been shown anddescribed herein, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art thatsuch embodiments are provided by way of example only. Numerousvariations, changes, and substitutions will now occur to those skilledin the art without departing from the disclosure. It should beunderstood that various alternatives to the embodiments of thedisclosure described herein may be employed in practicing thedisclosure. It is intended that the following claims define the scope ofthe disclosure and that methods and structures within the scope of theseclaims and their equivalents be covered thereby.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for decoding data, the methodcomprising: retrieving data related to a symbol; identifying a pluralityof candidate values for the symbol; determining a distance between eachof the plurality of candidate values and a reference value associatedwith the symbol to obtain a plurality of distances; and determiningwhether to update a value of the symbol based at least in part on theplurality of distances.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the pluralityof distances form a distance distribution, wherein the distancedistribution includes a number of check nodes associated with at leastone distance in the plurality of distances.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein determining whether to update a value of the symbol is furtherbased at least in part on a comparison between a threshold and a numberof check nodes associated with a first distance in the plurality ofdistances.
 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising modifying thethreshold at a further iteration of the decoding.
 5. The method of claim1, wherein determining whether to update the value of the symbolcomprises: identifying a plurality of thresholds, wherein each thresholdin the plurality of thresholds corresponds to a distance in theplurality of distances, and wherein the threshold is modified as thecorresponding distance is modified; and comparing each threshold in theplurality of thresholds to the corresponding distance in the pluralityof distances.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating thevalue of the symbol when a number of check nodes associated with adistance in the plurality of distances exceeds a threshold.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, wherein a first number of satisfied check nodesassociated with the symbol correspond to a first distance in theplurality of distances, and a second number of unsatisfied check nodesassociated with the symbol correspond to a second distance in theplurality of distances.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein each checknode in the second number of unsatisfied check nodes is changed to asatisfied check node if the symbol is updated to a second value based onthe reference value and the second distance.
 9. The method of claim 1,wherein the reference value is an original value of the symbol or acurrent value of the symbol.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein thesymbol is a non-binary symbol, such that there are at least threecandidate values in the plurality of candidate values for the symbol.11. The method of claim 10, further comprising flipping a current valueof the non-binary symbol, wherein the flipping comprises updating thecurrent value from a first candidate value in the plurality of candidatevalues to a second candidate value in the plurality of candidate values.12. A decoder comprising decoding circuitry communicatively coupled to amemory, wherein the decoding circuitry is configured to: retrieve datarelated to a symbol from the memory; identify a plurality of candidatevalues for the symbol; determine a distance between each of theplurality of candidate values and a reference value associated with thesymbol to obtain a plurality of distances; and determine whether toupdate a value of the symbol based at least in part on the plurality ofdistances.
 13. The decoder of claim 12, wherein the plurality ofdistances form a distance distribution, wherein the distancedistribution includes a number of check nodes associated with at leastone distance in the plurality of distances.
 14. The decoder of claim 12,wherein determining whether to update a value of the symbol is furtherbased at least in part on a comparison between a threshold and a numberof check nodes associated with a distance in the plurality of distances.15. The decoder of claim 14, wherein the decoding circuitry is furtherconfigured to modify the threshold at a further iteration of thedecoding.
 16. The decoder of claim 12, wherein the decoding circuitry isconfigured to determine whether to update the value of the symbol by:identifying a plurality of thresholds, wherein each threshold in theplurality of thresholds corresponds to a distance in the plurality ofdistances, and wherein the threshold is modified as the correspondingdistance is modified; and comparing each threshold in the plurality ofthresholds to the corresponding distance in the plurality of distances.17. The decoder of claim 12, wherein the decoding circuitry isconfigured to update the value of the symbol when a number of checknodes associated with a distance in the plurality of distances exceeds athreshold.
 18. The decoder of claim 12, wherein a first number ofsatisfied check nodes associated with the symbol correspond to a firstdistance in the plurality of distances, and a second number ofunsatisfied check nodes associated with the symbol correspond to asecond distance in the plurality of distances.
 19. The decoder of claim18, wherein each check node in the second number of unsatisfied checknodes is changed to a satisfied check node if the symbol is updated to asecond value based on the reference value and the second distance. 20.The decoder of claim 12, wherein the reference value is an originalvalue of the symbol or a current value of the symbol.
 21. The decoder ofclaim 12, wherein the symbol is a non-binary symbol, such that there areat least three candidate values in the plurality of candidate values forthe symbol.
 22. The decoder of claim 21, wherein the decoding circuitryis further configured to flip a current value of the non-binary symbolby updating the current value from a first candidate value in theplurality of candidate values to a second candidate value in theplurality of candidate values.